Chapter 1
Light fractured in my eyes as the intoxicating pull of the vodka shots I’d taken earlier dragged me further into a haze. Deeper and deeper I fell, until I became one with the beat of the music and the flashing neon glow around me. Down so far into the silky depths of numbness that I forgot my name, my purpose, and even my body.
That was until Lil shouted from a few feet away, “Aster!”
I slammed into a very hard body just as her slurred warning reached my ears. I looked up, my gaze locking with that of the stranger I’d nearly toppled over.
Through the blur of the colored lights and my drunken haze, the stranger’s amber eyes lit up in what I could only decipher as amusement. His wavy, silver hair was pulled back in a casual bun, a few loose strands framing his face. I giggled, starting to reach out to touch one of those loose pieces. His hair almost looked like starlight taking corporeal form. Maybe he was starlight…
“Hey, woah, woah, Aster!” Lil stumbled over. “Let’s not just go petting random strangers.”
I didn’t even have the sense in me to glare at her. In fact, my expression was probably something between blank and ridiculously ditzy.
Around us, the club was packed. The dance floor was writhing with scantily clad bodies and the marble-topped bar was flooded with patrons, a few even sitting on the counter. Neon lights in the shapes of flowers hung from the tall ceiling—very appropriate for a venue in the Seelie Court. I wondered idly what Unseelie Court clubs looked like. If you asked someone here, they’d probably say that anything to do with our rival court was full of shadows and ill-intentions. As if those things weren’t rampant here too.
“Is that what you were trying to do?” a voice floated over, cutting through my hazy, wandering thoughts. “Pet me?”
I raised my gaze back to the silver-haired stranger I’d bumped into. Fae, by the delicate point of his ears. Or at least half. Sometimes it was hard to tell.
I must have stared a second too long at his ears because he chuckled. He then brushed a strand of my hair back before tracing a thumb up my own slanted ear.
“Yes, love, I’m just like you,” he said.
I think Lil’s mouth might have popped open. The stranger smiled slyly at me, dragging his hand from my face, before disappearing. About a minute later, the music floating around us began to quicken. But it wasn’t the typical, bass heavy beat of the club music that had been playing only a moment ago. This music was undeniably Fae.
A few patrons—shifters, sirens, and maybe even a human or two—groaned. They knew they’d never be able to keep up with the quick, odd rhythm that was faerie music. Lil glanced around nervously, but at that moment, the stranger reappeared in front of me.
“If the ears didn’t convince you, maybe this will,” he said.
He hardly paused before sweeping me into his arms and moving to the music. I stumbled a bit before catching up with him. His hands found my waist, his touch featherlight. The movement on his part gave me some more confidence; or perhaps that was from the last spiked seltzer I’d chugged with Lil only minutes ago, finally kicking in.
My hands reached up to twine in the loose strands of his hair. It was silky beneath my fingers and I laughed softly.
“What’s that?” he murmured, leaning close to my ear.
“I didn’t say anything,” I replied breathlessly.
Something flickered in those amber eyes as I spoke to him for the first time. It was gone in the breath of a moment as the song began to fade out. Seconds later, the pulsing beat of the usual club music replaced its melodic chaos. Still, I did not let go of the beautiful stranger.
His broad hands trailed up my back and I couldn’t help the soft sigh that escaped me. His hands tightened for just a moment, then he let me go. I stumbled back at the sudden loss of a steady presence. He gave me one last half-smile and turned to leave.
“Wait!” I called after him.
He slowly faced me again, a dark brow raised.
“What’s your name?” I asked, my words slurred.
A shadow curled up around his ear and my eyes widened at the sight of it. His long legs ate up the distance between us, until he was back, standing inches away from me again. Goddess, this man smelled good, like a strange combination of night air and sweet, tangy citrus.
“You don’t want to know my name, love,” he breathed.
I shivered at the hush of air tickling the shell of my ear. A low rumble escaped him, and just before he left, he tugged on my earlobe with his teeth.
I gasped, but by the time I recovered, he was gone, almost as if he’d never been there at all. Blinking several times, I slowly turned to face Lil.
“Holy fucking goddess above,” Lil said, her voice low and serious—well, until a giggle escaped her, and she gushed. “Aster, that was pretty much the hottest thing I’ve ever seen happen in this club. Or maybe anywhere. Watching you two had me turned on.”
I swatted at her as a shifter migrated through the crowd, making his way over to us.
“Was that your boyfriend?” he asked once he approached me.
I glanced at Lil, snorting. “No, wolf boy. But neither are you.”
The shifter looked offended, and then snarled, “Presumptuous much?”
I rolled my eyes, pointing to my ears and Lil’s. “We’re Fae, pretty boy. We can smell the wolf all over you.”
The shifter groaned. “It’s dark so I didn’t see your ears… never mind.”
He began to shuffle away, but Lil called after him, “Do you know who he was? The man my friend just danced with?”
The shifter’s grin was devious and he let out a low chuckle.
“If you don’t know who that was… well, it seems to me that you’re already in too deep,” he said with a glance in my direction.
Then he was gone, lost in the crowd. Lil and I looked at each other for a moment before guffawing at the shifter’s ridiculous warning. The butterfly clips in Lil’s violet curls caught the silvery light above. As our laughter died down, I watched the sparkling reflections, mesmerized.
Lil followed my vacant stare and sighed. “Alright, party girl. Let’s go home. I’ll call a taxi.”
“We could walk. Taxis are expensive,” I said as Lil dragged me through the still pulsing crowd.
“Don’t worry, I’ll pay,” she replied.
We shoved open the doors, spilling out into the cool night air. I started to protest against Lil’s offer, but she shushed me with a finger to the mouth. I nipped at it and she yelped, pulling her hand back.
“I just got these done!” she exclaimed, waving around her freshly painted pink nails. “You’ll chip them!”
I grinned stupidly, flashing my own nails. Painted black and chipped. My usual.
Lil groaned as she waved down a taxi. “We can’t all pull off your effortless, goth pixie look,” my best friend said.
Indeed, she was much more polished than I was. A short metallic gold dress molded to her curvy body like a second skin. Matching heels wrapped up her calves and her violet hair was shining and lush, even after a night of dancing and drinking. Whereas me… well, I embodied the look of a rebellious teen, even though we were far past sixteen. Chunky leather ankle boots weighed down my feet, while ripped fishnet tights covered up most of my lanky legs, ending in shorts that barely covered my ass. The look was completed with an old t-shirt ripped at my midriff and silver bangles in my ears.
Lil and I were polar opposites, but that was why we worked. We’d even dated for a short time as teenagers before deciding we were better as friends. It wasn’t that I didn’t love her, and I would never stop thinking she was sexy as hell. But being friends had always felt more effortless for us.
“C’mon, you sons of bitches!” Lil screeched as another taxi passed us by. “What absolute assholes!” she snarled, waving her hands.
Few club goers were around, yet the taxis still ignored us.
“Come on!” I shouted as another sped off.
Lil turned to me, her round cheeks pink with anger. But her eyes were tired and defeated.
“I just want to go home and eat leftover pizza,” she whined, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Can’t you just call Raven?” I asked.
Lil shrugged. “My mom’s been weird about me hanging out with him lately. I don’t want to stress her out any more than she already is.”
“Lil, he’s your brother,” I reminded her.
Well, half-brother. Before Lil had been born, her mom had an affair with a faerie from the Unseelie Court. Lil’s dad stayed, but he and her mom’s relationship had been slowly crumbling ever since. Divorce was definitely in the cards at this point. Maybe keeping Lil from seeing Raven too much was her mom’s way of trying to keep her marriage together.
“And besides,” I added, “it’s not like the Unseelie Fae are inherently evil. The whole thing is dumb.”
Lil shot me a look as we both began to shiver in our thin clothes. It was a look that said, You should know better than anyone why it matters.
I ignored it, just as I ignored the burning beginning to flare in my chest.
Shut it down, shut it down, shut it down, I pleaded silently with myself.
The burning subsided and I sucked in a sharp breath of the cool air, steadying myself. Lil glanced at me worriedly, then sighed and relented, “Alright, I’ll call Raven. I don’t know where he is though, it could take a while.”
I snorted and slumped down on the curb. “Better to wait a little while than stay out here all night.”
Lil didn’t protest and lifted her cell to her ear. With my excellent Fae hearing, I could hear nearly every ripple of the dial tone. My ears pricked as Raven’s deep voice answered, “What, Lil?”
She scoffed into the phone and explained our situation. After a moment, Raven sighed and replied begrudgingly, “Alright, alright. Be there in twenty.”
She cut the call immediately as he agreed, running a hand through her curls as she stumbled down next to me on the curb. I glanced sidelong at her and she gave me a loopy grin, before reaching over and tugging my hair out of its ponytail. It tumbled down my back, dark as a starless night. Lil seemed to admire it for a moment before murmuring, “Better.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re drunk.”
She raised a perfectly sculpted brow and said, “So are you.”
We sat in silence for a minute or so as a few shifters tumbled out of the club. Finally, she broke it and said, “Are we gonna talk about that mega-hot stranger you danced with in there?”
A smile played on my lips. My mind was still clouded and my memories of what happened inside the club even hazier. But I knew I would never forget that face. I’d probably never see him again, the amber-eyed stranger. Even as some strange instinct snarled at my senses to go hunt him down. He was just another pretty… well, beautiful, distraction.
They all were.
Fae, an odd shifter here or there, and sometimes humans too. Men and women alike, they filled my bed, or the space between the bathroom stalls of clubs and bars. What they didn’t know is that they were all nothing but placeholders, trying to make up for the permanent, gaping hole in my heart. Lil shone light into that space, but it had never been quite enough. It wasn’t her fault. I didn’t think anyone or anything ever would be.
“Aster, you’re drifting,” Lil’s voice brought me back down to earth.
I snapped my head in her direction and muttered, “Sorry.”
She smiled gently, though her grin quickly turned feral and I sighed through my nose.
“I’ll probably never see him again, so wipe that expression off your face,” I said.
Lil laid her head on my shoulder.
“I don’t know, Aster. I don’t think I’ve seen you look at anyone quite like that. Not even Jude.”
I flinched at my ex-boyfriend’s name. Jude Ever had been everything I thought I’d wanted when I was eighteen—tall, handsome, and just kind enough to soften my frigid heart a fraction. Until he’d cheated on me the night of my nineteenth birthday. Two days after I’d finally told him…
It didn’t matter what I’d told him. It never would. And I would never let myself fall like that for someone again. I’d had enough heartbreak in my life.
“All the more reason to stay away,” I said, trying to sound as sarcastic as possible. But I knew Lil caught the edge to my voice. She knew me too well.
“Aster, sweetie…” she began, lifting her head to look at me.
But I shakily shot to my feet as Raven’s maroon convertible rolled up in front of us.
“Hello, ladies,” he purred as Lil got to her feet too. He flashed a secret, special smile just at me.
Raven was handsome in the way that scared most mothers. Long dark hair, sparkling green eyes, and a deliciously muscled frame. I knew he held a flame for me. He had since I was thirteen and he was fifteen, when Lil had first learned of his existence. But Lil was my best friend, the only person who I truly trusted. I wasn’t about to hurt our relationship by shattering Raven’s heart. Because I knew that’s what would happen if I let him get close. And whether Lil liked to admit it or not, she cared about her brother.
Lil climbed into the car, nearly flashing me as she hauled herself into the backseat. I slapped her butt and she squealed before landing on the seat with a dull thud. My long legs easily swung over and she scowled at me as I sat down.
“I wish I was tall,” she pouted as Raven started to pull away from the club.
“Nah, you’re cute and petite,” I replied, shouting over the wind as our speed picked up.
Raven snorted and Lil stuck her tongue out at him.
“You two don’t seem too overly wasted,” he said. “Weird that the taxis weren’t picking you up.”
“You should’ve seen us forty minutes ago,” I shouted back.
Raven rolled his eyes, shaking his head. But there was real concern in his expression as he glanced back at me in the rearview mirror. Since I’d graduated from the Seelie Court University, nights like these had become all the more common. Without the pressures of school to keep me in check, I’d fully succumbed to life’s baser pleasures: alcohol and sex.
Not that I hadn’t in college. But I’d also been hell-bent on graduating and excelling in my studies. It pissed my uncle off—especially since I’d majored in astrology, an area of study usually reserved for Unseelie Fae. It was a miracle he hadn’t removed the option from the university curriculum altogether. But I’d graduated six months ago with honors, successfully irritating him even more.
Except that, once the charade was over, and I began my job as a receptionist for one of the museums of our court, purpose began to leach out of my life. I filled the empty spot of school with tequila shots and hookups. And who was Raven to judge? He had a long list of ex-girlfriends and a love for whiskey. How were my habits any worse than his?
Lil seemed to sense the slight tension in the air and yelled to Raven, “Aster met a hot Fae dude at the club!”
Raven’s face lifted in false surprise. “Oh?” he mused. “And where is he? Or have you already completed your conquest, Aster?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but Lil answered for me before I could shoot back a retort.
“That’s the weirdest part!” she gushed. “They danced to some strange faerie party music that he somehow got the DJ to play, and then he bit her ear and left.”
Raven’s expression darkened a fraction before he asked, “Did his teeth come out?”
I snorted. “Of course not.”
Faerie’s sharp canines came out for two reasons. One, they were going to kill you, or two, they wanted to claim you, potentially as a mate.
Raven looked relieved, and even playfully asked, “Well, what did he look like? Lemme guess—dark hair, green eyes, maybe a few tattoos?”
I opened my mouth, but Lil beat me to it again.
“No! Totally the opposite of her usual type actually. He had these gorgeous honey-amber eyes, like flecked with gold or something. And his hair was white, well, no silver. I don’t know, it was like—”
“Starlight,” I cut in. My cheeks warmed as I realized how ridiculous that sounded.
Raven turned into our neighborhood, suddenly quiet. I glanced at Lil and she shrugged. A minute or two passed before we reached our apartment. Once the car was off, Raven turned, his face serious.
“Did you notice anything else about him?” he urged.
I narrowed my eyes and asked, “What do you mean?”
He took a deep breath and then went on. “Any other defining features? Or maybe a strange magical signature? I know you were probably drunk out of your mind, but was there anything else at all?”
I started to say no, but the memory of that shadowy aura that had seemed to surround the stranger, just before he’d left, flashed through my mind. Raven caught onto my hesitation and looked at me expectantly.
“He…” I took a quick breath. “He might have been Unseelie. I thought I saw some shadow magic, maybe.”
Raven nodded and Lil cocked her head.
“Why are you acting like you know who she’s talking about?” she asked.
Raven looked me directly in the eye as he replied darkly, “Because I’m fairly certain I do. The person you’re describing…. Aster, I think you danced with the King of the Unseelie Court.”
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